As the year comes to an end, work may be a bit slower than usual, as colleagues and clients are taking time off to spend with their families for the holidays. However, a lighter workload makes for the perfect time to do some housekeeping! Here are a few suggestions for things you can do to finish out the year on a clean note, and start the new one fresh.

Tie Up Loose Ends with Contacts and Leads

For opportunities and deals expected to close before (or during the month of) January, it’s time to reach out to those related contacts and either wrap up with the final details, or set a date for a meeting to discuss next steps. Nimble’s individual and group messaging features can assist with this!

Simply compose your message to one contact directly from the deal record…

Or, use the Group Message feature to send a message to all contacts with whom you will need to meet, with the ability to track opens and clicks for your message!

Declutter your Workspace

Starting the new year fresh includes your cleaning up your workspace! Coming back in January to an organized desk and computer will be a great help in allowing you to jump right back into your routine. Make sure that all papers are organized and trash is thrown away, and that you have replenished your stock of office supplies. If you don’t already have one, a desk organizer is an inexpensive way to ensure that everything is in its place. Plain black will do the job and goes with everything, but if your office affords you some creative freedom, spring for a color you’ll be happy to see every day!

Electronically, backing up your data is very important, and should be done multiple times a year. Make this part of your end-of year routine for peace of mind. There are a variety of ways to do this, including local options such as external hard drives (USB drives offer a compact way to store large amounts of data), and cloud options such as free Google Drive or Dropbox accounts.

Additionally, cleaning out your email account will reduce the list of messages in your Inbox, keeping stress levels low when work starts to pick back up. You might choose to delete those older, unnecessary messages to free up storage space, as well as create folders and labels to organize your emails and archive some messages for later.

Clean Up Your CRM

Throughout the year, you may have imported contacts to your CRM that are no longer relevant to your needs, have no place yet in your organizational tools such as tags or segments, or have incorrect or outdated contact information. To start 2017 on the right foot, you’ll want to be sure that you have all of the right contacts in your database, that they are easy to find, and that their contact information is correct.

Our customer care lead, Samantha, has written a great post with every tip you need to accomplish this in Nimble! Check it out here:

Now that the year is wrapping up, take some time to think about how your year went overall:

If you made any resolutions for this year, how close did you come to meeting them?

What accomplishments are you proud of?

Where can improvements or other changes be made?

After answering these questions, make a new list of what you would like to achieve in the coming year. These can be on any or all of three levels: for your organization, for your specific team, and for yourself. Additionally, not all goals have to be strictly about work, but can still impact your career in a positive way. For example, the classic New Year’s resolutions of exercising and eating healthier benefit you physically with more energy, but they also provide mental benefits such as increases in productivity and concentration.

Update Social for Data and Privacy Accuracy

Make sure that your connections across your various social networks are viewing accurate profile information! If you’ve changed career tracks or contact information throughout the year, now is a good time to ensure that all of your social profiles containing public information are consistent across the board. If your personal preferences for what others should be able to see from you have changed, you should also make any necessary changes your privacy settings across your networks.

Additionally, the promotion you got, the project you and/or your team completed, or those additional responsibilities you took on should make their way to your LinkedIn profile (and your resume, while you’re at it)! Updating these items at least once a year is a great way to keep your network updated, as well as prevent you from racking your brain for possibly years’ worth of accomplishments under pressure, should the need arise for your resume in the future.

By utilizing some or all of these tips, you can ensure that that 2016 is finished out on a complete note, and that you will be ready to hit the ground running in 2017!

Krystan is a Care Ninja at Nimble. She is passionate about customer service, and she loves helping our Nimble users get the most out of their CRM. In her spare time, she loves cooking delicious food, immersing herself in all kinds of music, and enjoying all that Los Angeles has to offer.